Pollution control for smokestacks

ABSTRACT

An open-bottomed domelike member is supported over and in spaced relation to the open end of a stack or flue to divert products of combustion outwardly and downwardly into a casing, the downwardly moving products of combustion being sprayed with water then escaping outwardly and upwardly from a casing surrounding the domelike structure. Air jets tend to force feed the products of combustion upwardly through the stack to maintain proper circulation and to supply additional oxygen to assist in completing combustion of the flue gases.

[ 51 Feb. 15,1972

3,478,49611/1969 Keough 2,184,185 12/1939 Gerhold.......,........................

[54] POLLUTION CONTROL FOR SMOKESTACKS [72] Inventor: Joseph Vizza, 414 Broad Ave., Belle Ver- Primary Examiner Tim Miles 15012 Assistant Examiner-Steven H. Markowitz Feb. 5, 1970 Attorney-Victor J. Evans & Co.

[22] Filed:

App. No.: An open-bottomed domelike member is supported over and in spaced relation to the open end of a stack or flue to divert Int Cl 33 products of combustion outwardly and downwardly into a casmg, the downwardly moving products of Combustion being [58] F'eld 5 g2 2 P 3 52 sprayed with water then escaping outwardly and upwardly from a casing surrounding the domelike structure, Air jets tend to force feed the products of combustion upwardly through the stack to maintain proper circulation and to supply [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS additional oxygen to assist in completing combustion of the flue gases.

5,163 6/1947 Cuttingtal..........................26l/1l8 1,009,963 11/1911 Gamblin................................261/126 4Claims,4DrawingFigures PATENTEDFEB 15 I972 SHEET 2 [1F 3 IN V EN TOR. Jaw/w V/ZZA yama. Afro/2N5 Y5.

POLLUTION CONTROL FOR SMOKESTACKS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Above the upper end of a smokestack or flue is arranged an open-bottomed domelike hollow structure, the lower edge of which is spaced radially outwardly of the upper end of the stack. Products of combustion flowing upwardly through the stack have their movement accelerated by upwardly extending air jets in the stack, which jets serve the further purpose of assisting in completing the combustion of any gases not completely burned.

The products of combustion are deflected outwardly of the bottom of the dome and flow downwardly between the lower edge of the dome and the upper end of the stack, and water, maintained in the hollow dome, is fed downwardly through pipes and discharged through jet nozzles downwardly into the downwardly moving products of combustion to collect and precipitate solid particles flowing from the stack. These particles are collected in a tray or the like from which water is drained and from which solid material may be cleaned.

After passing the spray nozzles the particles of combustion flow radially outwardly and then upwardly for discharge from a casing surrounding and annularly spaced from the dome. The apparatus functions to reduce the pollution of the atmosphere by the products of combustion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical axial view through the invention surrounding a stack;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar view on line 33 of FIG. I; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modified form of the iNvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. I, the numeral designates a vertical Smokestack or flue to which products of combustion are supplied in any suitable manner, in this case through a transverse pipe 12 leading into the stack. The lower end of the stack may be open and flared as at 14 so that particles of material weight will drop therethrough.

Above the stack is arranged a double-walled dome 16, the bottom of which is open and the lower extremity 18 of which is annularly spaced from the upper end of the stack to provide an annular passageway 20 for the downward flow of products of combustion from the dome. The upper end of the stack in this case is annularly turned over as at 22 to assist in the smooth flow of the products of combustion downwardly through the passage 20.

The double-walled dome is maintained full of water as at 24, this water being supplied through a pipe 26 controlled by any suitable type of valve 28. The lower end of thedome is provided with a plurality of depending pipes 30, each of which is provided with a plurality of inwardly and downwardly angled water discharge jet nozzles 32. The water discharged through the nozzles is projected through the downwardly flowing products of combustion to pick up solid particles therefrom and precipitate them for collection as described below.

The structure described is surrounded by a casing 34 of greater diameter than the dome 16, both of these units being annular and providing therebetween an annular discharge passage 36.

The casing 34 is provided with a bottom wall 38 in which precipitated solid material from the products of combustion collect as at 40. The wall 38 is provided with discharge pipes 42 for the drainage of water from the bottom of the casing 34. The casing 34 is provided with cleanout openings 44 having control doors 46 adapted to be opened for scraping solid material from the bottom wall 38.

An annular pipe 48 (FIGS. 1 and 2) surrounds the stack 10 and is provided with upwardly converging pipes 50 extending through the stack 10 and terminating therein in open upper ends 52 constituting air discharge nozzles for the forcing of air upwardly through the stack 10, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1. The annular pipe 48 is supplied with air under pressure through a radial pipe 54 leading to a source of air pressure and controlled by a suitable valve 56.

A modified form of the invention is shown in FIG. 4 which may be applied to a stack projecting through the roof of the building. Those parts which are identical with the parts shown in FIG. 1 have been indicated by the same reference numerals. In the modified form, a casing 58 surrounds the structure and is similar to the casing 34 except that it is not provided with a bottom wall. In this case, a stack 60 projects upwardly from the building and through the roofline indicated by the numeral 62. Within the casing is arranged a catch basin formed as an upwardly diverging annular cone 62 in which the annular pipe 48 is arranged, and water is drained from the cone through a pipe 64. Solid material accumulating in the cone 62 may be scraped outwardly through openings 66 normally closed by doors 68 to prevent excessive accumulation of the solid material.

OPERATION In either case, products of combustion flow upwardly through the stack and instead of being discharged directly to the atmosphere with the inclusion of incompletely burned gases and solid particles, the products of combustion strike the inner surface of the dome l6 and are deflected radially outwardly and downwardly to flow downwardly through the passage 20 into the casing 34 or 58. The downwardly moving gases are sprayed with water through the nozzles 32, and the water collects all of the solid material and precipitates it downwardly to be collected either on the bottom wall 38 (FIG. I) or the conical basin 62 (FIG. 4).

Since the flow of products of combustion is reversed at the top of the structure, there is a tendency to slow down such flow by the resistance encountered by the products of combustion. This is overcome by the use of the jet nozzles 52 which pump air constantly into the stack to effect a proper flow of products of combustion from the upper end of the stack. These air jets not only impel the gases upwardly but they also supply supplemental oxygen which more effectively completes combustion of the gases, thus minimizing the flow of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.

After flowing downwardly through the passage 20, the gases then flow radially outwardly and upwardly through the annular discharge space 36. Solid particles will be precipitated by the water, and the water will be drained off through the pipes 42 (FIG. 1) or the pipe 64 (FIG. 4). The water is fed under some degree of pressure to the interior of the dome l6 and the hotter the gases being discharged from the upper end of the stack, the hotter will be the water in the dome 16. This action tends to expand the water and increase its pressure, and if the gases are sufficiently hot, some of the water 24 will be converted into steam to further increase the pressure. Thus the flow of water from the nozzles 32 will have its rate increased automatically in accordance with the increasing of temperatures in the flue gases.

The apparatus thus functions to control and very substantially reduce the discharge of pollutants into the atmosphere from smokestacks or other flues discharging products of combustion to the atmosphere.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided an improved pollution control for smokestacks which accomplishes all of the objects of this invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As various embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and as many modifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a Smokestack, a generally cylindrical open top casing, a bottom wall in said casing, clean out access doors in said casing adjacent said bottom wall, an open bottom flue pipe enclosed centrally within said casing and terminating adjacent the upper end of said casing with said flue pipe in communication with said smokestack to receive the products of combustion therefrom, a double-wall hollow domelike structure supported in said casing overlying the upper end of said flue pipe and spaced upwardly therefrom to form a passage therearound whereby smoke passing upwardly through the flue pipe will be spread radially outwardly and then downwardly between the edges of said domelike structure and the flue pipe, means for supplying water to said domelike structure and means for introducing water jets into the downwardly moving products of combustion to wash solid materials therefrom to be collected on said bottom wall.

2. A structure as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of upwardly directed air pipes in said flue pipe to accelerate the flow of products of combustion upwardly therethrough and to assist in completing the combustion of the flue gases passing upwardly through said flue pipe.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said flue pipe has an open bottom and said smokestack communicates with said flue pipe above said open bottom.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said flue pipe has its bottom end outwardly flared to assist in separating solid particles from gaseous portions of the smoke passing upwardly through said flue pipe. 

1. In combination with a smokestack, a generally cylindrical open top casing, a bottom wall in said casing, clean out access doors in said casing adjacent said bottom wall, an open bottom flue pipe enclosed centrally within said casing and terminating adjacent the upper end of said casing with said flue pipe in communication with said smokestack to receive the products of combustion therefrom, a double-wall hollow domelike structure supported in said casing overlying the upper end of said flue pipe and spaced upwardly therefrom to form a passage therearound whereby smoke passing upwardly through the flue pipe will be spread radially outwardly and then downwardly between the edges of said domelike structure and the flue pipe, means for supplying water to said domelike structure and means for introducing water jets into the downwardly moving products of combustion to wash solid materials therefrom to be collected on said bottom wall.
 2. A structure as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of upwardly directed air pipes in said flue pipe to accelerate the flow of products of combustion upwardly therethrough and to assist in completing the combustion of the flue gases passing upwardly through said flue pipe.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said flue pipe has an open bottom and said smokestack communicates with said flue pipe above said open bottom.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said flue pipe has its bottom end outwardly flared to assist in separating solid particles from gaseous portions of the smoke passing upwardly through said flue pipe. 